much. The sinfulness of the world, proves what I am saying to be true. For, how would it be possible for many of us to be the thoughtless, wretched sinners that we are, if we remembered, with proper seriousness, that in a very little time we are to die? What then is the reason why we are inclined to think least of that, which of all things concerns us most? It is owing to our forgetfulness of God. If we loved and remembered Him as we ought, we should never lose sight of that which will bring us nearer to Him. But as it is, our affections not being set on things above, become fixed on things below: we grow so fond of the follies and vanities, if not of the wickedness of this world, that we are loath to suffer any thing to enter our thoughts, which may in any way disturb or interrupt what we call our happiness and enjoyments. We can hear of sickness in our neighbour's house; we can see those amongst whom we have lived, carried, it may be suddenly, to their last home, and be none the better for the lessons which these things teach us. For a moment,

indeed, and it is but for a moment, the thought will flash across us, that our turn may be the next; but this is unwelcome to us, and we shake it off; and, because we feel that we are still healthy and strong, we think that we have yet long to live, and that the day is still far distant which is to number us with the dead. Thus, instead of being brought to our senses, to repentance, by the warnings which are given us, we continue no better than we were; live on forgetful of God, of the account which we all shall have to give, of the glorious kingdom to which He invites us, and clinging with blind fondness to the enjoyments of a life, which we know we soon must, and know not how soon we may, be forced to part from.

Yet, for all this, for all our unreadiness to think of death, and all our unwillingness to die, determined as we may be, that our pleasures and follies shall not be interrupted by the remembrance of their emptiness and their shortness, we cannot alter that which God has appointed. And what has He appointed? For all men once to die,

and, after that, the judgment. Whether we choose to think of it or not, our last enemy will come upon us; and, whether we prepare for it or not, the day of judgment will overtake us.

My brethren, are these things so? Is something or another taking place every week, every day, every hour of our lives, to convince us, that dust we are, and unto dust must all return? does the word of God assure us, that we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad? Can it be wise, then, can it be safe, to live in carelessness and forgetfulness of these things? trifling with God, who is able at once to destroy us for all eternity, and passing the life which He has bestowed upon us as a season for making ready for a better, in such an unholy, such an unprofitable manner, that we can only expect to change it for a worse.

O, let it not be so with us! let us not so ill employ the life, and all the gifts and blessings which God has graciously

bestowed! let us not harden our hearts against His warnings, nor ever drive from our minds the thought, that the end of all things is at hand: as far as we are concerned, it is very near indeed, for we all do fade as a leaf, and happy would it be for us, if, instead of living only for this world, and losing sight of those better things which are prepared for us in another, we would take to our souls the instruction, which even the commonest things about us can give, and learn to make every day which we spend on earth, as it were a step towards heaven.

As I before observed, the present season is especially suited to awaken serious thoughts and feelings in our breasts, and should I, by drawing your attention to the lesson which it teaches, be the means of leading your minds to take a holy turn, our time will not have been employed in vain. Look, then, around you: and as you see the change which a few days have made in the appearance of things, think of that great and fearful change which in a few days, or years at farthest, awaits us all.

Look around you: the faded leaves are falling from the trees, on which, a little while ago, they looked so cheerful and so pleasant. So are mankind dropping day by day into the dust of death. Think of the number of beings like yourselves, who have lived in the same houses and moved in the same fields which you live and move in now: they are gone, they are forgotten; and we in a little time must be so too.

Look around you: and as in every direction you behold the sign of winter coming on, when all things for a season shall be cold and dead, think of that winter which is coming upon you, when you too for a season must be cold and dead; and learn, not to desire too eagerly the pleasures and possessions of this world, which will be all of no profit to you when you go down to the

grave.

If you are at that age in which youth and health make life appear to be more certain than it is, be not deceived; we ALL do fade, and you, in a little time, will find it so. Not yet, perhaps you think: but trust not to appearances. Do we not often